Saudia in talks with SpaceX to outfit aircraft with Starlink

Saudia Airlines is talking with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to bring Starlink’s high-speed internet to more than 140 of its aircraft.

If signed, the deal would mark SpaceX’s entry into the Gulf’s largest economy, even as local rival Neo Space Group races to develop its own in-flight service, Bloomberg reports.

While Saudia, the country’s flagship airline, did not comment on the news, its chief guest experience officer, Rossen Dimitrov, said in a post on LinkedIn that he recently toured SpaceX’s industrial complex in Texas to explore “the exciting future they are bringing to aviation.”

Starlink’s airline service follows a subscription model, with upfront hardware costs of $300,000 to $500,000 per plane plus a monthly fee per seat.

SpaceX is also in talks with Emirates, Flydubai, and Gulf Air, the news agency added.